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But there is one crucial thing they really needed to do. Labour should have told the parents of the alleged victims. If I was the father I’d be furious. But apparently the victim has that right to privacy. The parents deserved to know to help make the best decision for their teenager

The self styled, top of the pops journalist, also has an opinion about all the alcoholism slouching around all over the ruling liberal middle class, in my opinion.

He’s dyslexic, and he knows that this big public display of news paper reading, is theatre.

I once saw a woman in an outdoor cafe drawing in a sketchbook. She quickly spotted me pretending not to look and, to my surprise, proudly held up her work for my perusal. That's when the real surprise kicked in. She'd produced a head and shoulders portrait of a German shepherd in finely rendered blue ball point. Instead of drawing from life she was working from memory.

I must have paid her work a suitable compliment, because she went on to flip through her sketchbook to reveal a whole bunch of earlier variations on the same picture. "I think they're the only breed that really look like dogs, don't you?" she said, smiling proudly.

The poison is posted (some of it vile), and then deleted (moderation seems to be random, and certainly late). And then suddenly – the piece is no longer open for comments at all (not just closed, the comments simply disappear, as if they were never there).

Stuff have done it again, with the Israel Folau story. Harvest the homophobes for a couple of hours, then suddenly - delete all.

As I said before, this is not just the usual online platform for nastiness, justified in the name of free speech. The speech simply disappears - but only after the damage has been done. It can't be rebutted, it was "never there". Except, it was.

Horrible, irresponsible, and Stuff should bloody well be explaining why they do it.

Heather du Plessis Allan and Deborah Hill Cone, that renowned tag team of the 'look at me, look at me' squad, hardly constitute a serious critique of anything.Both have made interesting choices in their partners as well, but I'm sure they wouldn't want that looked at too closely - or publicly or commented on either...Bereft of actual relevant and real social commentary opportunities they have resorted to barrel-bottom scraping for cheap attention seeking. SAD!

The Herald it seems likes to employ ‘writers’ who don’t know standard English – I note Ms Hill Cone quotes verbatim from Kim Knight’s ’Canvas’ piece on Clarke Gayford, without bothering to correct the obvious mistake (nor did any ‘subs’ in the chain):

"…He grew up tying his own lures, making his own sinkers, pouring over books and committing the Maori and Latin names for fish to memory…"

I strongly doubt he was ‘wetting’ (sic) his appetite for knowledge, but was merely ‘poring’ over his books…

For some reason Ms Hill Cone (whose first name is Deborah – ‘Bee woman’ in Hebrew) also takes umbrage at Mr Gayford’s terminal vowel use in his christian name – ‘Clarke’ (means ‘man of learning') – a name that has been in use since the mid 1700s or thereabouts – and had a popularity burst in the 1950s and ’60s – it was a less popular choice in 1977 but still in common use… What an odd thing to rail against!?Clutching at ’strawman’ arguments perhaps?

A story on the PM giving birth was opened up for comments, and the bitter and twisted duly turned up. Controversial socialist statements like "Wishing mother and baby all the best" would get downvoted by the voices of Common Sense. The birth was a distraction, sheeple!

Stuff then started deleting the abusive comments faster than the trolls could type. If only they could have predicted this by ... I don't know, reading Stuff comments occasionally?

One of the craziest media takes (not least on dear old Stuff comments) re- the PM's baby is that we've endured "saturation coverage", "being rammed down our throats", etc. Here's a reality check:

Precisely zero minutes have been added to the 6 pm news bulletins, or any other prime time programming on the main TV channels. The story has led the bulletins, but has still taken up less time than sport in those same bulletins. Regular programming has been almost untouched. No marathon "specials" have been broadcast. It's a news story (obviously), and that is all.

Also reality :

About a month ago those same channels devoted more than six HOURS of Saturday prime time to a wedding. The groom is the 6th in line to be New Zealand's head of state.